Speaking Up

It’s been a while since my last post, and of course, I blame it on exams. I’ll get back on my writing track soon, but for now, just a quick note on something I read in the paper.

I was talking to a guest at the restaurant on Saturday morning about an article that came out in the paper on people who survived the Khmer Rouge killings in Cambodia. A conference in Long Beach was held in an attempt to allow the survivors to voice out their experiences and locked-up feelings. The goal of promoting such a conference was to grant the victims some sense of justice and to inform the global community of what happened to them three decades ago. 

This conference links back to other similar incidences such as the Truth and Reconciliation Commission dealing with crimes committed during the apartheid in South Africa. Again, the point of the TRC was not only to provide a means by which victims could be heard, but also to allow criminals to give testimonies and request for amnesty. It is very difficult to analyze what impacts these commissions have on the participating population. Yes, they do allow people to voice experiences that may have been painfully stored, it gives them the feeling that some form of justice will follow, and may bring moral or social punishment to the perpetrators of crimes. But then again, given the fact that most people don’t know or remember the criminals, that the tribunal set out to punish criminals only holds a limited reach, and that by speaking of the killings will not erase or ameliorate the pain of the victims, are the commissions beneficial?

It is impossible to judge the outcome of such commissions, but the number of places in which they have been held suggests the outcomes are more beneficial than negative. Other than the two examples mentioned above, truth and reconciliation commissions have been held in Rwanda, South Korea, Ghana, Chile, Canada, Argentina, Sierra Leone, Peru, Panama, Guatemala, and among many other countries.

If you are interested in reading it, here is the article from the Los Angeles Times.